Changes for Florida Restaurant Health Inspections

Details: Published on Monday, 14 January 2013 11:41; Written by Scott Joseph

As of the first of the year, the state of Florida has adopted provisions of the 2009 Food and Drug Administration Food Code, which is meant to reduce risk factors that can contribute to foodborne illnesses. One of the most significant changes that have been implemented involves the way health code violations are categorized. And I think this is an important and welcome change.

In the past, health inspectors issued two types of violations: critical and noncritical. I often took issue with the word critical. The problem was that some trespasses that were labeled as critical weren’t necessarily so. For example, you know that sign that you see in restrooms that says something to the effect that “employees must wash hands”? Failure to display that sign was considered a critical violation. I always found it odd that the missing sign would have the same weight as a health violation as would an employee who failed to wash his or her hands after using the toilet. And when consumers went to the trouble to track down the latest inspections for their favorite restaurants, usually all they would see would be the number of critical violations and noncritical violations without considering the details.

Under the new rules, the inspectors will note violations in three categories: High Priority, Intermediate and Basic.

High Priority violations include those directly involved in food preparation and handling -- cooking, reheating, cooling and, yes, hand washing -- that could most directly contribute to foodborne illness or injury.

Intermediate violations are classified as problems that could, if not addressed, lead to foodborne illness or injury. Those are personnel training, documentation, record keeping and labeling. This is where the missing hand-washing sign would come in.

Basic violation include general sanitation, operational controls, standard operating procedures, and general maintenance. What’s odd about this category is that it does include some violations that could potentially lead to foodborne illness, such as the failure to separate raw meat from ready to eat foods.

But this is definitely a step in the right direction.

What do you think about the new rules? And would you like to see Central Florida implement a requirement for restaurants to display their current inspection? What about issuing a grading system, similar to New York? Leave a comment below.

Comments

0 #3 Scott Joseph 2013-01-15 16:25

It really isn't all that baffling. As Patrick mentioned, people will tend to walk past a restaurant with even a B rating. Yes, every restaurant should strive to obtain an A rating, and perhaps we would have more that were worthy of one if Florida restaurants had to post their grades. My only concern is that the system is subject to the vagaries of humans -- the inspectors -- who are fallible. Still, I think I'm with both of you: let's go with the grading system.

Quote

0 #2 Poolboy1 2013-01-15 16:19

I could not agree more with Patrick regarding letter grades posted conspicuously on the front of the restaurant. This practice is in force in most major cities, but why the Florida Restaurant Association has lobbied against it baffles me.

Quote

0 #1 Patrick Kittell 2013-01-14 15:57

I think that Orlando should adopt the California - Los Angeles practice of issung letter-grades of A, B, C, D and F, and making it the law that restaurants have to display it in their windows. I have been there for years and seen people turn around and go elsewhere for even a "B" restaurant. It is complete and needed transparency that has definitely lifted the quality of health inspections there.

Quote

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post

Add comment

JComments

Wednesday, 19th June 2013

Main Menu

What is a Flog?

A flog is a food blog with news and reviews of restaurants. Here you'll find all things edible, lots of things to drink, including expert wine advice, and lots of other stuff.